Anglican Fellowship of Prayer

Partners in Prayer

Summer 2013

Dear Friends,

Our meeting at beautiful Roslyn Retreat Center in Richmond, Virginia April 2-3 was both happy and
sad. We were very glad to be together again, but sad that this would be the last meeting chaired by our outgoing
president, Will Williams. We worked on answering the question “Where do we go from here?”

We reflected upon the history of the Anglican Fellowship of Prayer, our tradition of prayer life, both
individual and corporate—and the changes we are facing in how we carry out our mission. We no longer gather
for national conferences, renewing friendships, making new ones, sharing experiences face to face, and learning
about prayer from a wide variety of teachers—theologians, ordained clergy, and talented lay persons, with the
opportunity for questions and group discussions. And praying together. But we’ve had a couple of local ones.

One of our primary concerns is how we can best operate in the multimedia world, which seems to be the
successor to the “multimeeting world.” Do we need to redefine who we are? Do we restate our mission, or do
we adapt it to new methods? Can new ways of communicating give us a broader reach, both globally and at
home? If so, how do we go about doing it? And can the reach be deep, as well as broad? Do new technologies
like our Facebook page, or the “prayer request” section on our website, increase one’s sense that it is easy to
reach out when there is a need of prayer for healing, guidance, and so on? Is the “feedback” gotten from such a
reaching out as warm and personal as meeting face to face? If not, how can we make it more nearly so? Note:
a word of gratitude to those who respond to prayer requests on our Facebook page with beautiful prayers which
go to the heart of the concerns of the one who has asked for prayer.

Our board has downsized in membership; soon after our meeting we were very sorry to hear from our
beloved Patricia Hayes (Diocese of Oregon) that she needed to resign from the board for health reasons, and we
are praying for her.

Currently we have no bishop serving on the board, and only one member of the ordained clergy. Do
you know of someone who might volunteer? We will be welcoming a new Diocesan Representative in this
newsletter, but we need more! How can AFP attract new leadership and new members to help us encourage and
teach about group and individual prayer? What additional resources might we need?

We invite our readership to respond to our concerns. Please note that there is no questionnaire to return.
We ask that you pray about these issues and respond via email, telephone, or “snail mail” to the contact
information given on page 5 of this newsletter.